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Movie theater may be coming back to downtown Silver City

SILVER CITY — Silver City could see first-run films playing downtown in the Silco Theater as early as May, after the Silver City Town Council approved a resolution allowing the town manager to submit a loan application to the New Mexico Finance Authority to purchase the theater and then have Silver City MainStreet continue to operate it and lease it to a movie theater operator.

The town's only movie theater, Real West Cinema, closed earlier this month, and city officials and Mayor James Marshall see the issue as a critical one, the mayor said at Tuesday night's council meeting.

The town has had plans to purchase the Silco for some time, but the deal had never been finalized.

In February 2012, the town agreed to commit $169,000 to support Silver City MainStreet's plans to purchase the theater from private owners Rita and James Sherwood. That money was going to come from the town's gross receipts tax coffers. In June of 2012, MainStreet received a $175,000 grant from the state to support it's Downtown Theater District Plan, and that funding, along with the town money, was going to purchase the theater. But those two funding sources fell short of meeting the asking price, town manager Alex Brown said, so the town began looking at a different approach.

Now, the town is looking at taking a loan from the state Finance Authority to make up the shortfall and meet the purchase price.

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The historic 1923 theater appraised at $10,000 more than the asking price of $369,000 a year ago, but the town is having a new appraisal done, Brown said, as state procurement requires an appraisal no older than six months. The amount of the loan from the Finance Authority will be determined when the new appraisal comes in, Brown said.

Once the town secures the funding, and goes through the proper processes to have it approved, they will enter into negotiations with Silver City MainStreet to buy the building - which MainStreet is buying from the Sherwoods. Since the town has access to more favorable financing than a private entity like MainStreet, it makes more sense to do the deal that way, Silver City MainStreet Manager Nick Seibel said. MainStreet will continue to make lease payments on the Silco, which will pay the loan payments for the town.

Once the deal is finalized — which could be in early March, Brown said — Silver City MainStreet will have to find a private movie theater operator to operate the Silco as a movie theater.

Seibel said he has been in talks with several movie theater operators, including Fountain Cinemas, which operated the Real West Cinema, and other in-state operators, to see who would be interested in operating the Silco.

In the interim, MainStreet is working on renovations to take the theater back to a movie theater usage by removing the remainder of the balcony, restoring the floor to the sloped floor theater seating, which currently exists beneath the current auditorium floor, and installing concession and projection facilities.

Seibel said in looking for an entity to operate the theater, MainStreet is looking for someone who would be a good long term partner for the future.

MainStreet's ambitious six-phase, $4.725 million Silver City Theater District Plan calls for the three theaters on Bullard Street — the Silco, the Gila and the El Sol — to be restored and preserved and eventually become performing arts venues for film and other events downtown. The plan will be funded by a combination of state, local public and private money.

In other business, the Council approved a resolution to install a bronze plaque on the Broadway bridge, honoring Carlos C. Aguirre, a Silver City Vietnam veteran who was killed in action at Khe San in February 1968. Councilor Jose Ray knew Aguirre and presented the resolution to honor his friend and fellow Vietnam veteran — and all veterans — who served, and died for their country. Ray said Aguirre taught him how to wrestle in high school and earned the nickname "Killer" — not in Vietnam, but when he was playing baseball in Grant County.

"He used to swing the bat very hard and the coach would say, "Don't kill the ball,'" Ray said.

Several area veterans and a cousin of Aguirre were in the audience and spoke in support of the measure. Two of Aguirre's brothers were also in the audience and stood in support of it as well. The audience broke out in applause when the resolution was unanimously adopted. The date the plaque will be installed was not announced.

The council also heard a report from Heidi Sexton on the High Desert Humane Society's Animal Intake numbers for 2012, and a quarterly report from Cissy McAndrew of the Southwest New Mexico Green Chamber on the Silver City Visitor Center's tourism and visitor center numbers.

In other business, the council approved the appointment of Elizabeth Foster to the library board and five applicants to the Lodgers Tax Advisory board. They are: Nancy Johnson, Michelle Carrillo, Katherine Gorthy, Sandra Hicks, and Mitch Hellman.